Blame it on Winn Dixie
If it says Winn-Dixie, investors want it. Actually, it could be any first-tier grocery-anchored property in South Florida, and investors will want it, the Shopping Center Group director of investment sales Anthony Blanco tells us. (Cereal has never had this much cachet.)
Recently the Shopping Center Group brokered the sale of its third Winn-Dixie-anchored center—and seventh grocery-anchored center—in about a year, the 77k SF Salerno Village Square in Stuart, on the Treasure Coast. Toronto-based Slate Properties acquired the property from Equity One, which Anthony repped. He says the property, which dates from the 1970s but was renovated about 10 years ago (just like a Real Housewife), received bids from every stripe of investor.
Grocery-anchored centers continue to be very appealing to retail property investors due to their ability to drive continuous customer traffic, Anthony says. Landlords can lease around the strong anchors with service-oriented and other complementary retail uses. Also, he says, while it may be obvious to say that “people must eat,” people gotta eat. “Grocery-anchored centers have proven to be very close to recession-proof investments.”
